How the Economy Got Here: Bush Tax Cuts vs. Obama Stimulus

This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 17, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: During calls for him to cancel his ill timed summer getaway, "The Anointed One" is once again headed to Martha's Vineyard. Now fresh off his Midwest bus tour, which wrapped up in Illinois earlier today, the president is expected to arrive on the upper class island tomorrow for an extended vacation full of golf, family biking, fancy food, friends, fun, mopeds. And meanwhile the U.S. economy is still sagging, unemployment hovering at more than nine percent. So what kind of message does this send to the Americans that are out there struggling?

Surely not one the White House is going for, that the economy is still the president's top priority. Oh yes, the very top of his list all right. Right after, he gets a few weeks in R and R then he finally gets around to addressing the nation finally three years into his administration with his real economic plan. And that comes after Labor Day. So hold on if you are unemployed.

Joining me now with reaction, nationally syndicated radio talk show at Cincinnati. By the way, he'll soon to start his tribune-produced talk show the one and only Bill Cunningham, called the "Bill Cunningham Show."

BILL CUNNINGHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: This is my hors d'oeuvre right here.

HANNITY: Jerry Springer. One of the worst TV moments, Bill, of my life, I first interviewed him and I come in and I have the list of horrific shows that he's done over his career. And I'm like you did this, what do you think of that? I know it is awful, embarrassing. You totally caught me off guard. I still hate you for that.

JERRY SPRINGER, GAME SHOW HOST: Well, good, but thank you for having me back though.

HANNITY: Bill Cunningham, the economy is in a mess. The country is struggling. We got under employed 20 percent. We got unemployed 9.1, real unemployed 16 percent. And the president is hanging out with the rich and famous, the private jets, the yachts in Martha's Vineyard. Good or bad idea?

CUNNINGHAM: Sean Hannity, a few years ago Springer's good friend Michael Moore had a film out called "Inconvenient Truth" in which George Bush is playing golf. In the first three years of Obama's administration, Jerry Springer's good friend Barack Hussein Obama, Obama has played golf three times more than George Bush in eight years and I want to know Jerry's criticism of his guy fiddling as Rome burns.

Jerry, how can you even look yourself in the mirror because of what you and ilk have done to this city and to this country?

SPRINGER: I have trouble looking in the mirror, but that's because of the way I look. Beyond that, first of all, thank you for inviting me to the Republican Party Committee here --

HANNITY: We are conservatives by the way.

SPRINGER: You are Republicans.

HANNITY: No, excuse me I'm a registered conservative, Jerry.

SPRINGER: My guess is you are voting Republican.

HANNITY: My vote is I'm voting for conservative candidates.

SPRINGER: Yes. So anyway, the president is taking a vacation. If I thought that you two were serious about worrying about employment in America, you wouldn't be worried about, oh my God, the president is actually having a week or two-vacation with his family, isn't that horrible. You wouldn't have fought so hard to stop giving us a stimulus that was necessary when people are unemployed. You wouldn't be voting against an increase --

HANNITY: It bankrupt us, Jerry.

SPRINGER: Oh stop it!

HANNITY: We would never had 1.65 trillion in debt.

SPRINGER: You wouldn't want myself, yourself, and once your show get started, yourself, people that are lucky enough to make an awful lot of money to pay a little more in taxes so that everyone in America could have health insurance so that we have a stimulus program.

HANNITY: Jerry, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, you can donate all the money you want.

SPRINGER: You do it too! Let's each write a check!

CUNNINGHAM: Why don't you write your check?

SPRINGER: I will.

HANNITY: I won't.

CUNNINGHAM: Why won't you?

HANNITY: I'm over taxed now.

SPRINGER: Why don't you talk to the people running these cameras? They would like an opportunity --

HANNITY: People running these cameras love me because we are a team on "Hannity" here.

SPRINGER: I know you're a team, but we are lucky enough to have all this --

HANNITY: Bill Cunningham jump in.

CUNNINGHAM: Let's get the voice of reason instead of this raging left wing lunatic to my left.

SPRINGER: That's me, folks.

CUNNINGHAM: The fact of the matter is America was in trouble in 2008. Obama instead of making things better has made things a whole lot worse, unemployment up, gasoline up, deficit up. Everything that should be up is down. Everything that is down should be up. This guy ought to be unemployed in about 15 months. He should add to the unemployment rate.

SPRINGER: Bill, then don't block the president when he's coming through with plans --

SPRINGER: Let me tell you that when the government spends money, you keep saying, the government doesn't create jobs, the private sector does.

Let me tell you, every single penny the government spends pays somebody's salary. When you cut government spending, you are cutting somebody's job and that is unhealthy.

HANNITY: Bill Cunningham, this country takes in $2.2 trillion a year and spent $3.7 trillion a year.

SPRINGER: If you would be willing, those of us who are wealthy would be willing to spend a little more money.

CUNNINGHAM: Listen to this. The money used to pay the public servants that you defend so well come out of the pockets of private citizens. If they had that money, their money would create new private sector jobs.

SPRINGER: When federal dollars are spent, for example. It is spent let's say on defense.

CUNNINGHAM: It comes out of your pocket, Jerry.

SPRINGER: It should! Don't you love this country?

CUNNINGHAM: I do. I think I love I more than you do. I love this country.

SPRINGER: I know you do. OK, here's the thing. You weren't asking one question about how much money we were spending.

CUNNINGHAM: I constantly said --

SPRINGER: You didn't, I listened to your show.

CUNNINGHAM: Prescriptive D drug benefits was way too much.

SPRINGER: When we went into Iraq, Afghanistan, you didn't ask how much.

CUNNINGHAM: Hillary Clinton voted for Iraq and Afghanistan. Most Democrats voted for Iraq and Afghanistan. You recall her saying, let's go to Iraq, Mr. President!

SPRINGER: But pay for it!

CUNNINGHAM: Democrats didn't pay for it!

SPRINGER: But pay for it. You never raised the question of how much money we are spending when we are fighting wars, but if it is talking about health insurance, where people feed it to protect, --

HANNITY: Hey, Jerry. In September...

SPRINGER: You never let me finish.

HANNITY: You monopolize the whole time!

CUNNINGHAM: All you do is talk, Jerry.

SPRINGER: That's why I have a microphone.

HANNITY: Bill Cunningham, last word.

CUNNINGHAM: My last word is this. We had Reagan to beat Carter. I always imagined as a kid what would a second Jimmy Carter term have looked like? We now know. We can't give Jimmy Carter three terms.

SPRINGER: All this name calling --

CUNNINGHAM: Carter is name calling?

SPRINGER: If you want to put people back to work --

CUNNINGHAM: Lower their taxes.

SPRINGER: You know what? We've had the Bush tax cuts --

HANNITY: It worked.

SPRINGER: Well how come unemployment keeps going up?!

CUNNINGHAM: Obama is in the White House.

SPRINGER: You keep saying it's working, it's working. You had your tax cuts and haven't worked because we have 9.2 percent unemployment.

CUNNINGHAM: They worked! The unemployment rate in '07 was like five percent, Jerry. Five percent. Now it is almost 10.

SPRINGER: Because of the Bush tax cuts.

CUNNINGHAM: They worked Jerry.

SPRINGER: They didn't work.

CUNNINGHAM: You and Buffet ought to send your money to Washington and let it be wasted there.

SPRINGER: It is "Baggage," it's a dating show on GSN every night at 7:30. You will love it. Frankly, you get tax breaks if you watch.

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